Farm Chicks 2012

Hello all!  I wanted to pop in and say a big thank you to everyone who shopped at The Farm Chicks last weekend.  I had great fun.  This year I really played with shapes and color and decided to tackle bigger pieces.  It was fun seeing some familiar faces and meeting new friends.  I have the best time at this show, I love all the kindred spirits all around me.

Apologies for being so absent around here lately.  If you want some more recent updates you can follow me on instagram- beccalux.  I am in love and obsessed with instagram!  I also update the photos to my flickr page.

I have to thank my amazing friends.  I have the best friends, I kept repeating that to Sam all week.  Friends who call and ask what time they can pick my daughter up to babysit her, friends who deliver Krispy Kreme doughnuts and Pepsi's, friends who had homemade pizza dough and all the fixings and salad all ready to go for me.  Friends who helped me paint.  Friends who gave encouraging phone calls and texts to get me through my emotional highs and lows.  Friends who helped set up and tear down for me.  Friends to party with and sip margarita's with when it was all said and done.  I love my friends!

I'm hoping to get some before and after pictures up here on some of my big furniture pieces.  I really went a different route and did primarily big pieces.  In true Becca form, most of those pieces were done in the last two weeks.  I thrive under pressure.  I am a procrastinator.  I had a good time painting and sewing this year.  

 I completely reworked this chair.  It was in pretty sad shape when I began.  I completely reupholstered this from scratch.  My friend Court sanded her down, my husband stained it.  I made the cushions after a few late night sewing sessions!  We also put in new webbing.  It was a labor of love, but worth it!

 I think my favorite pieces were the houndstooth side table and the blue chevron table.  I will post more pictures of those.  They were painstaking, but unique and cool.

 This sink weighs about 300 pounds and is a beast!  Two grown men had to muscle it over here.

 I have to thank my friend Court for the orange velvet chair.  Sam called it the throne.  I was sad to take it out of my house.  Court had to do some serious convincing for me to buy this one Saturday morning from a nice guy on craigslist.  I wasn't so sure about the color.  Yes, that's right I was second guessing orange velvet, can you believe it.? Of course she was right, and at least I can enjoy this babies twin at her house.  She has it's pair in her living room.  This one went home to a girl who appreciated it's beauty.  It's always fun sending these off to their new homes.  It's the fun part.  I only wish I got to see pictures.

My lovely husband Sam.  He's always amazing and helps me in every way possible.  He does most of the finishing coats on our furniture.  He's my quality control man.  He is a pro at moving and packing a trailer.  We just celebrated our 7th anniversary.  I love this guy, he is the best.

Swedish Preschool

I just started watching this video, but after only a few minutes in, I am really loving it.  I love the way those little classrooms look-with the little lamps and the flowers and sticks.  I plan on watching the three part series.  I know some people get all uptight about where their kid goes to preschool.  I kind of tend to lean toward this idea: there is plenty of time to get serious about learning.  It's good to play and explore when children are little.

Here is the second video, and the third
  After living in Sweden for a month, I really was intrigued by their lifestyle.  I loved the way they biked everywhere, and I loved how everything looked beautiful.  I loved it (in a way) that there wasn't a single restaurant open at night.  (It is good for their country and for the food service industry-but rather annoying when you worked every night until 10 and then couldn't find any where to eat)  The whole town shut down on Midsummer's Day.  Their workers had weeks of vacation every year.

Wow, trip down memory lane.  I also remember that I loved the street signs, our backpacks were WAY too overstuffed, and I remember how all the men wore capris.

Outdoor Preschool

This video really spoke to me.  It makes me want to move to Norway (I'm half Norwegian you know)  It also makes me consider wanting to homeschool or something.  I never really thought I'd say that.  I love that they are learning how to light a fire, build, read a map, hike- all at the age of five.  It goes along with my theory that kids are more capable than we think.  There is an elementary school across the street from my house and I'm pretty sure that the kids only get outside at lunch time.

The Similarities of Tearing Up Entry Ways and Giving Birth

We finally finished scraping black tar off of our entry way.  It was a lot like giving birth. Ok, maybe I'm being a bit dramatic!   It was fun at first.  I was all proud of myself thinking it wasn't too bad.  I posted these pictures on instagram of my progress (all done during Luna's nap)  

Before the nap:

During:

And after the nap:

Then the rest of it was so hard to scrape.  I didn't think we would ever get it done.  It was the same feeling, thinking the baby is never going to come.  It was painful, my hands, knees, and forearms all hurt from working so hard.  I was super sore the next day from it.  In the end, well it's still ugly right now.  But next week after we get it refinished I think I'll be in love.

It had 2 layers of vinyl.  The first covering was fake stone vinyl.  Who covers their beautiful floors with that?  The smell was awful!

Now we just need to rip apart the rest of the kitchen floor.  That has a ton of nails, it takes strength, but it comes off easily.  It's not tedious.  

I'm pretty sure on Monday we are getting our floors sanded down.  I am so EXCITED for this step.  I think it will really feel like our house after that.  It is the last surface that needs to be redone and then every square inch of the house has been scrubbed, cleaned, and given a new life.  Every surface!

update:
Fast forward- it is all done right now but I am posting a day by day progress of what we did.
Here is a shot of what it looked like after the stain was applied.  As soon as I can I will update with the finished after shots.

Some Outfits...

Awhile back I said I was going to share some outfits I wore.  I've been posting some on instagram just for fun.  The pictures themselves are pretty horrible self portraits, but I didn't have anyone to take them and I am much too lazy to get out my tripod, and do the old timer on the DSLR.  A lot of these are things I've found at the thrift store.  Actually in the past few months I've pretty much replaced my wardrobe with fun things I've found.  If you're in Spokane, the downtown Goodwill is the place to find clothes!

 This sweater I found at Union Gospel Mission on Boone for $6.00.  I love it and it's a lot like my anthro one at the bottom of this post.  The belt is from my friend Ames, I love it, it's so cool!  The leather boots are from Bandolino, and the socks are from Target, skinny jeans from Gap.

 Luna loving her little baby, sporting some Wal-Mart jeggings, a cute hand me down sweater from Gap and a onesie with a birdie appliqued and hand stitched from a friend.  The chair was a shower gift from some friends.

 My mom spotted this ugly, yet great horse sweater in Minnesota at a thrift ship.  It's kinda ugly, but cool and I dig it.

 horses, horses, horses- name that movie- it's You've Got Mail I think, she sings that, or is it Sleepless in Seattle

 Ok, I'm really proud of this shirt I found for Sam.  It is in my opinion the perfect band shirt.  You know, for a concert when the guys are trying to look cool, but trying to look like they didn't even think about their outfit, even though they spent an hour figuring out just the right shirt.  I didn't know if he would like it, but he did love it- score!  This was found at Windfall, a thrift store just around the corner from us on Perry St.

 Here is a sweater I got for Christmas for Ann Taylor and some fun socks with pom poms that I bought at Target a few years ago.

 Here are some more Christmas gifts.  Shirt from Gap, scarf from Forever 21, jeans are Lucky I found at a consignment shop.  They are so comfy, and long!

 Here is one of three skirts I hemmed over Christmas.  I lopped off 8 inches on each of them and now I have some classic wool skirts.  I thrifted the sweater from Goodwill.  The purple tights are from Ross I think.

 Here is the outfit that clashes according to my sisters, I don't care  The blue shirt is thrifted from the Union Gospel Mission in the Valley.  The green pants are from Gap and are years old!

 I'm obsessed with rings, and I love vintage buttons so I had to get this.  I got it at an antique shop in Hopkins, MN over Christmas.

 This shirt is thrifted from Goodwill.

 Here is the second skirt I hemmed.  The shirt is smartwool, and the belt is from Forever 21

 This shirt I bought when I was pregnant at a thrift store near Sandpoint, ID.  I had no idea if it would fit me, I don't love it.  Luna's shirt is vintage and from a thrift store.  It has smocking on the top, I love it.

I love these cozy fleece jammies that Luna has.  They are Carters.

 Here is my girl's idea of necklaces.  Whenever I do laundry she always seems to steal my underwear and layers several pairs over her neck!

 I love this Gap shirt that I found brand new with the tags from Union Gospel Mission

Here is skirt #3 that I hemmed.  This one used to be my grandma's, I love that I can still wear it today!

 Luna's dress is this sweet vintage one that a lady from our church gave her.  I love it!

 Here she is being soooo silly!

 This is an Anthropologie sweater that I got majorly on sale.  I think it was a $200 sweater I got for about $40.  The shoes are Minnetonka Moccasins, and I would love to buy a mini pair for Luna.

There you have it folks, some bad phone pics of my quirky outfits!